Antonio Urcelay

A strengthened omnichannel fulfillment model helped slow the pace of sales declines at Toys"R"Us last year, and now the retailer is looking to execute the next phases of its transformation strategy to restore profitable growth. The company spelled out details of its strategy on March 25 during an investor conference with presentations from Antonio Urcelay, chairman and CEO, Hank Mullany, president of Toys"R"Us, U.S., and Mike Short, executive vice president and CFO. During 2015, the company said its "TRU Transformation" strategy will focus on four key priorities:

More Toys"R"Us stores will feature in-location Claire's shops, broadening its offerings for tween girls beyond toys and video games. The companies said Wednesday they would expand their partnership to about 100 stores in Europe and 12 locations in the U.S. by the end of the year after a successful European pilot program. The company's Times Square and FAO Schwartz stores in New York will debut their Claire's shops this week; the rest of the U.S. spots will open by the end of October in locations from Pennsylvania to California. 

The Toys"R"Us board has chosen interim Chief Executive Officer Antonio Urcelay as chief executive, but has paired him with a former Wal-Mart executive as the head of the Wayne, N.J.-based company's U.S. retail operations. The announcement this week follows an eight-month search that followed the resignation of former CEO Jerry Storch in February. Urcelay, who previously headed Toys’ global operations, was named interim CEO soon after Storch stepped aside, but has kept a relatively low profile in the interim position. Hank Mullany, a former executive vice president of Wal-Mart, U.S., was named president of Toys"R"Us, U.S., effective Nov. 5.

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